Hitler's Bombe

[Warren Bell]

I have been looking for an English translation of Rainer Karlsch's book, HITLER'S BOMBE, which came out last year. The reviews speak of a parallel SS nuclear bomb program run by Kurt Diebner and say that Werner Heisenberg, whom most references states was in charge of German nuclear research, was unaware of this program. Have any of our German-reading members read this work? If so, I would be interested in their opinions. Also, does anyone know of an English translation?

[robert_schulte]

Warren,
I haven't read the book, but maybe this link could be interesting for you:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...=6550#post6550

Regards
Robert

[ArtieBob]

I have not read this book and it has been almost 30 years since I was very deep into this subject, so most of this is coming from memory. IIRC, there were actually three parallel nuclear bomb programs in existence during WW II in Germany. Heisenberg's was the most credible, and several years ago, the Niels Bohr archive released some documents that went to Heisenberg's intentions, which he tried to downplay post capitulation. It would be no surprise, given the way information flowed in Nazi Germany, that one program did not know much about the others. However, since they were competing for the same finite amount of Uranium, heavy water, nuclear instrumentation, etc. that was available, I cannot imagine they were completely ignorant of each other's existence. Of course, this was to GB and USA's advantage, as tremendous resources were needed to achive success in this field. The allies concentrated both their intellectual and material resources, the Nazis allowed theirs to diffuse, plus many of the key players had come to the USA in response to what was happening in Nazi Germany. IIRC, even Heisenberg was accused of being a Jew and espousing non-Nazi science. If this book is another of the fantasies indicating the Germans were almost successful in their fission bomb program, it is probably crap. There is room for a well documented book written by someone who has credible credentials in nuclear weaponry on the competing programs and how they were approaching the problem.

Best regards,

Artie Bob

[edwest]

The amount of uranium was finite but not small. The Americans secured at least 1100 tons of uranium ore on April 21, 1945 in a location near Stassfurt.

In the book Critical Mass by Carter Hydrick, evidence is presented that enriched uranium was brought to the United States aboard a captured U-boat. Among those who listened to the author prior to publication was Dr. John Poston, Sr., PhD and head of Texas A&M's Nuclear Engineering Department. "Dr. Poston provided valuable additional insight into atomic theory and technology that have further strengthened the conclusions forwarded within these pages." Also mentioned are Dr. Bernhard Wehring of the University of Texas J.J. Pickle Nuclear Research Center, and Drs. Sandy Bergen, Harlow Russ, Edward Hammel and John Allred, all retired from the National Atomic Laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico - "and the late Clarence Larsen, formerly director of the Oak Ridge calutrons..."

This book is heavily footnoted and the locations of primary documents are given.

A drawing of an atomic bomb that was shown in the German book written by Karlsch can be found on physicsweb.

A final comment. As I, myself, have been in the book publishing business for 25 years, I know what kind of numbers such books sell, and I assure everyone that a lifetime income cannot be obtained thereby.



Best regards,
Ed West